Milestone Technologies in Chico to hire 200 more workers

CHICO — Milestone Technologies is hunting for more employees for its technology contact center. About 230 more employees as a matter of fact, to go along with the 240 or so already hired.

Milestone President and founder Prem Chand told this newspaper Monday he's excited about what's happening here, and glad for the opportunity to bring jobs back to where he grew up.

This week, there were milestones for Milestone, a Fremont-based company that's chosen Chico for its second home. The company employs more than 1,000 around the world.

On Monday, 140 employees started in a second launch, and the Chico facility got its first phone-call question at 8 a.m. Until Monday, the questions had come in as emails.

"I wanted to be here for the first call, and to talk with the new people," said Chand, who recounted his younger years, born in Yuba City and growing up in Biggs.

As of 2 p.m., those incoming calls were in the hundreds, he said.

For the second time in as many months, Milestone will conduct a job fair from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, but this will be at its building, 282 Convair Ave., at the Chico Municipal Airport industrial park.

Applicants should register first to pin down their appointment times, at www.milestonepowered.com.

Milestone is looking for agents — who answer the questions — supervisors and quality assurance personnel. Agents' beginning pay is $15 an hour for full-time work with benefits. Supervisors and quality assurance workers earn more.

Last month, 101 employees started with Milestone, Chand said. On Monday, 140 started.

And more are needed. While the remodeled building at the airport is not 24/7, it will be come December, Chand said.

The company hopes to employ close to 500 eventually in Chico, answering questions or emails about technology products.

Sam Roy of Chico is one of the newcomers. One of the early hires, Roy had come from the Bay Area and was a stay-at-home father in Chico, and he got more information from Alliance for Workforce Development of Chico, a nonprofit organization that's been helping Milestone.

Roy had been teaching high school history and geography, but found he was more often called to help teachers with the technology issues.

He liked helping the teachers and students find solutions, which is what excites him about Milestone, where he's one of the trainers.

"Many people see me first," he said in a telephone interview. "I'm proud to be a part of Milestone."

Asked about advice for applicants at the job fair, he said, "Be yourself, be comfortable. We're big time about customer service.

"Prem sees a lot of people in Chico being kind and polite. That's why we're shining bright here."

A soft or hard resume is handy too, as well as a background in Google Drive and Google Docs, he said.

As rapid a build-out as Milestone has had in Chico, Chand insists he and the company are in it for the long run.

"Milestone could have gone anywhere. We chose Chico because of the ability to bring jobs back here, and the people. Our customers and our relationships go back 10 years, more," said Chand, who mentioned leaving the area because opportunity lacked here.

"This is not a six-month thing. Literally millions of dollars have been pumped into this start-up," Chand said.

Chand said he heard from a man who had been looking for work since he was laid off a year and a half ago.

"He was ready to come back to the workforce."

"We have a client that we've had since 1997, one of the first. It's because we go above and beyond. We love what we do, and service is high up there."

As far as a limited supply of customer service reps in the area, Chand said he was exploring workshops with Chico State University and Butte College about training people in technology and the kind of skills that Milestone was seeking.

Reach Laura Urseny at 896-7756, lurseny@chicoer.com, or on Twitter @LauraUrseny.